Progression
by Verboten Byacolate
Summary: [Valley of the Wolves] Apprenticeship. Companionship. Partnership. A blooming affection. Their love was a slow, time consuming progression. [FenrisxDana]


A/N; This is the first time I've written anything for a non-Japanese fandom in a long, long time. But I couldn't help it. _Valley of the Wolves_ is _soooo_ fantastic, and it gave me the ideas for three fics at once, so, here I am. I don't know how many people would have read _Valley of the Wolves_, and I don't know what percentage of those would support Fenris/Dana, but, again, here I am. Enjoy!

**Progression**

He saw her first.

From his post atop the Tower, he saw a small girl enter the gates on the bay mare. She was following the Maestro, marveling at the gate itself. She looked wildly around, scanning the Tower, and he knew she had seen him. His honey-colored eyes narrowed in the slightest; he didn't know what the Maestro was thinking, bringing a child to the Tower. He decided bluntly not to think about it, to, instead, focus on the task at hand.

But he found himself glancing down at her once more.

- -

Their first encounter was in the library.

He spent most of his time there, so he suspected as much. She seemed dazed by her new surroundings, and immediately he assumed that she could not read. A country bumpkin. And purely human.

They had a short conversation, and after a while, he subtly dismissed her. She walked off, her head high, though she was obviously inferior to him. She thought they were equal? That he were just like her? Surely she was a foolish girl.

He didn't want to think about what the Maestro planned to do with the thin, uneducated dark-eyed child, but he watched her back until she was out of his sight.

He burried his nose back in the Book of Fire, and tried not to think about the girl who thought herself to be his equal.

- -

Her skills were quick, and ever-increasing. He found himself in slight awe that in a matter of four years she had done so much. She would pass the test of the Book of Water, he knew. She was quickly gaining on him.

The Maestro's intentions were still very unclear, and he knew that he didn't really want to be a part of it.

But he had no choice- _never, under any circumstances, should the apprentice disobey the Maestro_.

Still...

- -

When he first saved her, even after his transformation, he still couldn't shake the feeling. He didn't know what the feeling was, and it confused him greatly. He supposed it came with the knowledge that he had saved someone's life, though he had the almost silent feeling that that was _not_ it. He almost didn't remember her turning Alide defiantly to come back for him.

Almost.

- -

One night, after a long evening in the library, he was on the balcony of the Maestro's quarters, observing the forest, and the feeling washed over him again. A feeling that something _slow_ and utterly _powerful_ was taking place. A warm, soft feeling of progression. It made him want to shiver.

And he thought of Dana.

- -

When he'd first heard about Kai a year later, he was floored. Another odd, unexplainable feeling sunk low into his belly. This time, though, it was not a warm feeling. It did not make him want to shiver.

He felt a small bunch in his gut, and hoped that the word floating around in his mind would just be a biproduct of his imagination.

He knew he was not obligated to this _Kin-Shannay_, but he found himself unable to shake the hope that she'd set him free.

He hoped that the feeling of envy would pass. The hope was deflated slightly when he noticed the tender tone in her voice as she uttered the word _Kai_.

_Companion_, he thought bitterly.

- -

She was his first laugh in a long time. He found he liked the feeling immensly.

- -

Through the thick, angry haze he told her to run. For the millionth time, it seemed. He hoped she would comply, for the time when he could not control himself was fast approaching. Before he was overcome completely, he saw her finally retreat, and the warm feeling bled into him.

He found himself in control for a little longer.

- -

When they were in the Maestro's endless hole, and she began talking to the nothing beside her, he could only watch. He wished that he could offer her more than he could, but he couldn't, and didn't. So he just watched.

When the dwarf's voice rang through the emptiness, and they decided that Dana was to become the door to the other side, he was, for the first time in years, frightened.

For _her_ sake.

- -

And when she fell in a faint, he caught her unconscious form in his arms.

He found rather liked her there.

The warm feeling came on, in a powerful surge, and it was beginning to dawn on him what his heart was progressing toward.

- -

When she stirred, he felt his heart soar, and a fraction of a smile lifted the corners of his lips.

"Kai!"

His heart plumeting into his stomach, and his gut wrenching painfully, he managed, "Kai? I'm afraid not."

The sight of her confused sapphire eyes brought a bittersweet feeling to his whole being. And with a pang, he knew that her beart belonged to an insubstantial entity.

Not him.

- -

He watched as she took the test of the Book of Fire with a fascinated horror. The gut feeling that he couldn't help her battle those monsters crushed him.

_He couldn't do anything._

- -

When she died, he felt himself in a daze. He couldn't cry in mourning. He could avenge her in a blind rage. He couldn't pray for her soul in regret. He could only tell himself over and over that he would leave.

And then, a voice screamed in his head.

_He couldn't save her._

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he gently closed her eyelids. Already, he longed for the familiar spark.

- -

She came back to him, and he thought he would die of relief.

Even though they fought side by side against the Maestro, and they defeated him together, she still went back to talking to the no-bodies that were Kai and Aonia. All he knew was that there was a long, tearful goodbye. And then, they were alone.

He was able to wrap his arm around her shoulders and assure her that all would be well. The wolves were retreating. Kai was in his rightful place. Aonia was avenged.

_And you're with me._

- -

In the next years, they became the Lord and Lady of the Tower. It was a place they both enjoyed to be in. It was right.

He was able to smile. He was able to laugh. He was able to finally enjoy life.

He was finally able to claim her. She was his _Kin-Shannay_.

- -

Their love was a progression.

_your heart is_ **FIN** _finally mine_


End file.
